Summary

Obi believes that Nigeria will remain corrupt until the "old Africans" are replaced by younger men with a university education. He first formulates this theory in a paper read to the Nigerian Students' Union in London and within a month of coming home sees it proven. When interviewed by the Public Service Commission for a job, Obi talks "learned nonsense" about modern poetry and novels with the Chairman, leaving the others lost or asleep. Obi holds that Graham Greene's The Heart of the Matter is the best European novel about West Africa but is flawed by the "happy ending". Suicide ruins tragedy, which must take place in an "untidy spot". The commission member who had been sleeping asks if Obi intends to take bribes, which causes him to bristle and declare it an unuseful question. When Joseph says people needing jobs cannot afford to anger those who...